I have the enormous pleasure to announce that one of our visitors and now member Richard, nick in our website 'Staripolak64', offered his help in translations of old Russian Cyrillic handwritten records for our PolishOrigins Community

Richard is retired Slavic languages translator, fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, read and write Polish, Czech. As he wrote in e-mail to me after I contacted him: "I would be happy to translate for anyone who needs it. I have over 40 years of experience, including Russian handwriting back to the 15th century. I spent 14 years as a translator for the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, where I also translated books, birth records, passports, census records (revizskiye skazki), military records, etc."

Doesn't it sound impressive .

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Update: 17 Feb 2016

After more than 6 years of untiring help for our community by Ryszard Staripolak64 had to resign because his eyesight worsened and it was too tiring for him to decipher digital copies of old Russian handwriting. http://forum.polishorigins.com/viewtopic.php?p=25019#25019 . We THANK YOU so very much for the last 6 years of your tireless help and translating thousands of records for us. You had a great impact on so many of families' discoveries. It has and will have lasting effect for generations.

Most of you already know our friend from Poland Marcelproust who when only has time has been helping in the Russian translations for many months now. He also offered his help in visiting archives in Plock and I know from some of our community members that he did a great job.
A few weeks ago, just after Ryszard made his decision, I contacted Marcelproust and asked if he is willing and has enough time to substitute for Ryszard on more regular basis. Marcelproust responded favorably that he was ready to accept the challenge

I have the enormous pleasure to announce that Richard (tho' I prefer to use his Polish name)
has very recently translated for me 30 pages(!) of family documents from the Russian State Military Historical Archives, and I cannot recommend him highly enough!

After he had so very kindly toiled through these documents on my behalf at no charge, he thanked ME for the experience!!

I've had several handwritten Russian birth documents of the 1880's, from Russian occupied Poland, translated. I'd initially gave them to a fluent Russian speaker and reader, but she gave up on handwritten Russian. Saying it was completely alien to her. Is handwritten Russian considered Cyrillic? I don't know any Slavic language, and that Russsian to my eyes looked the same as handwritten Polish.. Is there some way I can discern which Slavic language it is?

I've had several handwritten Russian birth documents of the 1880's, from Russian occupied Poland, translated. I'd initially gave them to a fluent Russian speaker and reader, but she gave up on handwritten Russian. Saying it was completely alien to her.

But this is not alien to our Ryszard, at all . I also used to try to use help of Russians - Russian native speakers - but they were either giving up when they saw the records or were making errors which I had to then correct (although I don't speak Russian very well yet). This is why our Ryszard is such a treasure

BobK wrote:

Is handwritten Russian considered Cyrillic?

Cyrillic is an alphabetic writing system used in many languages in Eastern Europe and Asia, including Russian.

BobK wrote:

I don't know any Slavic language, and that Russsian to my eyes looked the same as handwritten Polish.. Is there some way I can discern which Slavic language it is?

Believe me, there is a big difference. In Polish we use the same Latin alphabet (with a few additional letters) as we use in English. If you had chance to read handwritten Polish records, I am sure you would be able to read some words, especially surnames and places.

I recently came across this article in the family history center in Salt Lake City. I do not believe it has been available until recently. It is the best article that I have read regarding how to decipher polish vital records. I am going to try to put the link here. The illustrations of the documents were phenomenal and help me a great deal.-I hope everyone has a chance to read it. Here is the one https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/images/0/0f/Finding_records_of_your_ancestors_Poland.pdf

I recently came across this article in the family history center in Salt Lake City. I do not believe it has been available until recently. It is the best article that I have read regarding how to decipher polish vital records. I am going to try to put the link here. The illustrations of the documents were phenomenal and help me a great deal.-I hope everyone has a chance to read it. Here is the one https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/images/0/0f/Finding_records_of_your_ancestors_Poland.pdf

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